What Your Fears Actually Mean: Tarot Pick a Card

Are you afraid to move forward in your life? Do you have unsettling dreams?

Although this may be hard to believe when you’re afraid, the universe uses your fears to help guide you to a better path. But we can get paralyzed by our fears and stop listening to what the universe is trying to say.

That’s what this tarot pick a card is for: helping you reconnect with your intuition and look past your fears at their real meaning. All you have to do is select one of the piles above that sticks out to you the most.

After you select your cards, choose below or scroll down to your pile.

In this reading, I’m using the Rider-Waite tarot and the Moonology oracle decks (these are affiliate links that support my tarot reading). I’ll be asking the universe three questions: what’s your unspoken fear, the true message, and how to improve your life.

Now let’s see what your fears actually mean.

---

Pile 1

What’s Your Unspoken Fear

Your first card is the Five of Cups. In this card, the figure is shrouded in a black cloak and mourns over the loss of three cups. The meaning is clear: your unspoken fear is that you’ve lost or might lose something in the future.

But let’s dig deeper. What is truly feared in loss is scarcity. When paired with the suit this card is in, cups, it takes on a more emotional and social tone.

You feel insecure about your relationships. You’re anxious over the idea that someone close to you may leave forever. What will you do without them?

It can seem like once a single loss has happened, more will follow. I sense that you perceive the loss of the people you care about as an indictment against you as a person. What’s wrong with you? Why won’t they stay? Surely this means you can’t keep anyone. You don’t want to be forever alone.

Sometimes, loss is inevitable, like in the death of a loved one from old age or a bad relationship ending. However, grief doesn’t always process logically. Realize that your fears are putting you into an emotional state where you’re blind to the reality at hand.

See how the man isn’t aware of the two full cups behind him?

It’s good to mourn your losses, but there’s usually someone or something in your life that you can rely on no matter how bad things get. However, you can’t see this in your grief.

I believe this is because you don’t even realize how sad and fearful you are of loss. You might tell yourself you can handle it, but you aren’t looking at your full life to see how it’s affecting you.

The True Message

Your next card is The Hanged Man. This is a card about waiting and martyrdom. Because of your fears, you’ve put yourself in a bad situation. You feel like it’s your only option.

But it’s not.

The numerology of this card is twelve, and that reduces down to one and two, linking it to the Empress card. This connection is one of abundance from within. The truth is, you already have everything you need to move on from your fears.

That’s what the universe is trying to tell you. Just like the Five of Cups, you still have resources to rely on and perhaps someone who can support you. You may not be as alone as you think.

I feel like you don’t have the confidence to live the life you want. Because of that, you’re holding back, fearful of what other people may take from you if you admit your truth.

That may happen, but some of the people in your life will stand beside you no matter what. You may need to accept breaking off your relationships with those who don’t.

Now let’s look at The Hanged Man again. See how his head is surrounded in light? This card invokes the story of Odin who hung himself on a tree to get the magical knowledge of the runes. His sacrifice had immeasurable value in the long term.

Don’t despair over the suffering you’ve experienced, but see it as an important lesson from the universe. What have you learned about what you truly value in life? How must your life change to better live your truth?

But whatever you do, make sure that this is a once-in-a-lifetime lesson!

How to Improve Your Life

You have two oracle cards on how to improve your life. The first is the Full Moon in Taurus with the wisdom message of “You need a practical plan.” The second is the New Moon in Leo with the wisdom message “Confidence is your key to success.”

You’ve already learned from your previous two cards that you need to look within to find inspiration and meaning to move forward. Doing this will require a new level of courage you haven’t expressed before.

Leo as an astrological sign is known for being loud, proud, and creative. Embrace that energy in how you proceed and combine it with a practical plan.

Taurus is an interesting sign and it’s important to explain to you so you can move beyond your fears effectively. This is a stubborn, but patient sign that loves beauty and comfort. They’re loyal, a bit hotheaded when angered, and a little lazy because they enjoy spending time at home.

However, they tend to be savvy with money and keep something in reserve. Taurus may move slowly, but surely.

This is the energy you need to draw on so you can be courageous and move past your fears. If you stop, problem solve your situation and your fears, and then create a practical plan, then you will feel confident in your future actions.

Fortune favors the prepared, and I sense that’s actually the kind of mantra you need in life. But how does this relate back to relationships?

Most relationships fail to start or even fail to last because people don’t take the time to invest in them. Taurans are known for being homebodies and closest with family and best friends. They enjoy spending quality time together with good meals, movies, and other activities which can promote a familiar atmosphere.

Make sure that you invest time in your relationships like a Taurus does and invest in your future too. Then you can feel confident that it’s going to be there years from now. And if you do lose someone? You’ll have amazing memories forever. Time isn’t wasted when it’s spent doing something you love with the people you love.

---

Pile 2

What’s Your Unspoken Fear

Right away from all your cards, I get the sense that you’re focused on manifesting something. And with your first card being The Magician, Reversed, you fear that all your efforts are going to be in vain.

But you know what? It’s hard to make some things happen. On the card itself, we see that The Magician has a lot of tools he had to prepare on the table. In its reversal, you’re not as prepared as he is. You’re missing something.

This can happen for a lot of reasons. Your life is probably complicated and you have many things to worry about, so following each step exactly to manifest everything you want isn’t reasonable. Not right now.

The Magician’s numerology is the number one, which is a solitary number. You may either fear you have to do everything on your own or prefer it that way. But in both cases, you’re the one ultimately responsible for success – and failure.

That’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself and some of those goals you have may not be reasonable. At least not yet.

This card has a lot of the color yellow, and that color is known for self-expression. What you’re trying to manifest matters to you, so you see failure as a sign you’re worthless. Don’t believe that, because it’s eating you up inside and creating a negative mindset.

With each failure, because you’re probably either having failures or always on the verge of one, your fears and anxieties increase. This lowers your vibrations and your ability to manifest. That means it’s getting harder and harder to succeed every day.

You are, unwittingly, self-sabotaging yourself. But as someone who wants to manifest, you may have trouble accepting this.

The True Message

The next card in your spread is the Two of Pentacles. Really look at this card. What do you see? A man who is juggling two coins in the shape of the infinity symbol.

The universe needs you to know that you’re doing way too much. Consider pausing or even permanently ending a few projects. I had to do this recently myself: I wanted to pursue so many hobbies that it was starting to overwhelm my schedule – especially my work. I thought the solution was to just schedule everything in, but I was exhausted at the end of the day.

No matter your productivity system or even your motivation, sometimes you hit a wall on the number of projects you can take on. Just like with The Magician, Reversed card, manifesting something requires preparation and the right mindset.

If you’re stressed out and exhausted, it’s time to lower your expectations on what you can achieve. This doesn’t mean you don’t pursue what’s meaningful, but that you focus on what’s meaningful and put some of your other interesting, but not urgent or central activities to the side.

You can still pick them up now and again when you have a free afternoon or weekend, but don’t organize it into a complex project that you have to return to again and again.

Now I do want to point out that the Two of Pentacles is a minor arcana card, which suggests this energy of being overwhelmed is temporary. Once you find out how to prioritize effectively, you’ll be able to include some of those projects you paused back into your life.

See in the background the ocean and the two ships? The man in the card is trying to juggle a lot of long-term goals, and that’s not helpful either. More than just your day-to-day activities, make sure that you’re investing the proper time into your main projects. This may mean doing more for something right now to push it along and get to a particular point before you add something else.

Sometimes, you can juggle multiple daily activities just fine, but it’s not pushing your goals forward because you aren’t doing enough of something. That’s why focusing on one big project at a time instead of ten is probably going to serve you better in manifesting what you want in life.

How to Improve Your Life

Your final card is the New Moon in Leo with the wisdom message “Don’t let pride get in your way.” Wow, of any possible message the creator of the deck could have chosen for Leo, this was the one she decided on.

There are a lot of consequences to Leo energy. It’s a sign known for creativity, generosity, and social charisma. However, they can be a bit boastful and bite off way more than they can chew. As this is the New Moon in Leo card, that’s exactly what’s happening to you.

You want to achieve a lot of things in life, and while that’s admirable and you will probably do some amazing things… is it really a good idea to plan to do all the things? You seem to be collecting trophies.

Imagine a teenager who dreams of becoming a famous singer, an actor, and a director. They want the Hollywood trifecta. However, if they try to start three very different careers at the same time, they might struggle to get anywhere. Unfortunately, some people who go into Hollywood (often Leos!) don’t like being told no.

Are you not listening to your intuition telling you that you’re trying to accomplish too much too fast? Are you trying to be “the greatest” and not focusing on doing what you’re doing now well? Chances are, you value certain things more than others but feel like you have to treat them equally for prestige.

The advice for the aspiring teenager is the same that I have for you now: what can you do well now that will move one of your major goals forward best? Is that also what you want the most?

Now this is the part you aren’t going to like: is the next step a reasonable expectation? The aspiring teenager may think that just focusing on acting is being humble – but if they try out for blockbusters and never bother auditioning for a local small play, they probably won’t get the experience needed to improve.

Don’t just narrow your goals down, but make your next step reasonable and actionable soon too. If you’re so proud that you’ll only accept the best, you won’t be happy along your journey and try to take on too much to compensate.

---

Pile 3

What’s Your Unspoken Fear

With the Knight of Wands, Reversed being your first card, I sense that your fear is being on the wrong path. It’s a feeling that’s been coming on you lately bit by bit and it’s causing you to question if your entire life path is a mistake.

The element of this card is fire and that has some important consequences to the meaning. Fire is very energetic, but when combined with the knightly energy of tarot, it has the danger of burning out. See how the card is set in a desert landscape?

That’s what’s happening in your life. You may have been too impulsive with your dreams and didn’t act with the right caution and preparation. Perhaps you’ve made so many mistakes that it seems as if you can’t salvage your current situation. It’s also possible you chose a path you didn’t like in the long run, even if you liked it at first.

This can be a painful card because of these associations, but there’s another common meaning to fire: passion.

You had so much passion for your life that any sign that things aren’t going right is like a blow to your heart. All your values, hopes, and ambitions are being called into question. You’re starting to wonder if you even know who you are.

Essentially, you’re in the midst of an identity crisis: and it’s only going to get worse.

But even though the message of this card is bleak and the card itself has a stark environment, do you see the pyramids in the background? No matter the bad turns you may have made in your life journey, it’s taken you to some interesting places.

Look around and ask yourself what you aren’t seeing that you should which could serve as a better opportunity or a way to reframe your perception. Impulse may have gotten you into this situation, but because you never took the time to look around, you may not be aware of the good that’s around you waiting to be found. And there is good.

The True Message

Your second card is the Ten of Swords. Nobody likes seeing this card in their spread because the person is being stabbed in the back – a lot! Before I even get into the deeper meaning of this card, I think you should ask yourself: how have you betrayed yourself?

The truth is that no matter how bad a situation is, we often are somewhat responsible for it. Maybe we are the direct cause of our misfortune or we didn’t advocate for ourselves enough.

That’s you. But that betrayal is continuing at this moment. You don’t want to admit that you’ve made mistakes or found yourself in the wrong situation. After all, how are you going to pull those swords from your back? Life can seem hopeless.

But this is a minor arcana card and with the numerology being ten, it suggests the end of one cycle and the potential beginning of another. The universe wants you to realize that this chapter of your life can end and you can start something new.

Yes, this is a card of ruin and you may be starting to feel like you’re life is ruined. However, when you have nothing else and have hit rock bottom, the only place left to go is up.

Whatever in your life has fallen apart, you need to accept that it’s over. You can’t return to the way things were anymore, no matter how much you may want to.

The universe sees your pain. Take some time to rest and prepare for the new life you’re about to begin.

How to Improve Your Life

With your first two cards being negative, you’re probably thrilled with your final two oracle cards. The first is Cardinal Moon with the wisdom message of “Be bold and make the first move.” The second is Waxing Moon with the wisdom message of “The energy is gaining momentum.”

Wow, what a contrast! Take a moment and feel the positive vibes from these two cards. This means the pain you’re feeling is ending and the new beginning you’re about to start has a lot of promise.

The Cardinal Moon refers to the Moon when it’s in the astrological signs of Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn. These are signs who are known for starting (and finishing) important projects in different spheres of life. Aries is the brave go-getter, Cancer the domestic superhero, Libra the relationship guru, and Capricorn the effective leader.

Whatever projects or life path you want to take, this is your sign you can succeed. All you have to do is embrace your inner strength and release it into the world.

You need to make a change in your life. Perhaps even a radical one (especially to you). Then pair it with your second oracle card, the Waxing Moon. This is when the Moon growing towards a Full Moon and it’s an excellent time to work on important projects.

The change you make has a lot of potential to succeed if it’s the right match for you. How do you find this match? Remember to think of the Knight of Wands, Reversed.

You don’t have to re-invent the wheel when you make a change in your life. See where you are now to take stock in your interests and current resources. Don’t like your career, but can’t afford to make a change? Well, you could create a budget and lower your hours while you take classes at a local community college or training program.

It may be worthwhile to spend some time with yourself or someone you trust to begin rethinking your life and charting a path you would be happy with. This may take a while, almost certainly not something you’ll figure out overnight, so be patient and allow yourself to get excited.

Once you make the change and start working towards your new life path, you can channel the Knight of Wands energy and all its passion, but without the recklessness, to charge forward again. You’ve done it before. Imagine what would happen if you applied that effort to something you truly loved and knew you could succeed in with the right perspective.

---

Did you resonate with your reading? Let me know in the comments below!