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| Melinda Page Hamilton as Anna and Jon Hamm as Don |
Everyone I know knows this: I am a "Mad Men" junkie. A "Maddict", in the circles of those who are obsessed with the show. I've never missed one episode of this fantastic, superbly-acted and tightly-written drama. As someone whose Dad is now the age Don Draper would be today, I remember how things worked differently back then. How gender roles were a certain way. Expectations of an early marriage, kids before you hit 30. How when, back in the early 70s, a nice lady said, as I exited a Bressler's Ice Cream store with cones for Dad and me, "Oh, isn't it nice that you bought ice cream for your grandpa?!" My dad was in his mid-40s at the time. Wow, how age definitions have changed over the years!
Anyway, Season 5 of my most favorite TV show of all time is now under way. I recall a few episodes in the past where Don met with Anne, a woman who knew about a huge secret Don was concealing from all except her. They were great friends, tied together by that bond (I could get into details, but I don't want to spoil it for folks who are still learning about the show and its characters). At one point, she gave him a tarot reading.
Hot doggie! "Mad Men" and tarot!? I was in heaven! Two great things that go great together!
But what did the spread mean? I know for a fact that the show does a fantastic job of being accurate to the era in every respect. For instance, when Betty bought Sally a Barbie doll, it was the exact Barbie that was out at that time in the early 60s. Was this reading true to the character, or was it merely a quick throwing down of cards by the writing/research team?
Nope. Even with the tarot, the production team of "Mad Men" got it right.
So, here it is, the reading Anna Draper gave to Don Draper, and my interpretation:
In the first position, the main situation, is the Sun, reversed. It's covered by the 8 of Cups. The Sun stands for Don at a point in his life when his energy, his life force, needs to shine, but things are in the way and he's diminished. The 8 of Cups shows up to tell Don it's time to be moving on, to leave a certain aspect of life behind. The man in the card is journeying on; he's ready for this change, although he might not feel it internally. Judgment and the Page of Pentacles are above and below the hub of the wheel. Again, Judgment says there's a time of reckoning for Don and the Page of Pentacles is urging him to make his dreams or plans real.
The card depicting the recent past is the 3 of Cups, but it's reversed. So all that revelry and womanizing is something that may not have served him very well. In the near future, the 5 of Swords indicates conflict and general aggravation. As Don and Betty did divorce, it seems the cards gave him a heads up in that direction.
At the bottom of the action side of the reading, we see The World, which is the action Don should take. He needs to believe he has that sort of strength inside him. But the next card, the 9 of Wands, indicates a defensive, combative attitude from those around him. In the position of hopes and fears, we see the Wheel of Fortune. There's a sense of karma here, that Don will eventually get some sort of comeuppance. And that would happen rather quickly, as the 8 of Wands is the outcome card. A rush of energy and action, things flying quickly ahead.
