Home life, life’s burdens and demands, finances, and even the darker side of life are all covered with the tens.  It’s been a long journey through the minor arcana…and life.  The tens will let you know if happiness and home life are going to come together, whether you will find some relief from those responsibilities you’ve been shouldering.  Is there some reason you should be watching your back, or is unexpected surgery in your future?  What about inheritance or money connected to a business or group?  The tens will tell.

Ten of Pentacles

The ten of pentacles represents money connected to a group, usually a family; but this could pertain to a business or an organization.  This card often reveals problems that may arise from this money and this group; whether someone is having a difficult time getting their fair share, someone is trying to collect more than they deserve, or someone is being black balled.  The ten of pentacles can—and has—pinpointed individuals and their roles in the unfolding drama often associated with inheritance, legal issues, and that delightful group of people known as relatives.

Watch carefully the cards surrounding the ten of pentacles for more insight into personalities and motives.  This card can literally tell you who you can trust and who you can’t.  The ten of pentacles has often tagged troublemakers in some of my readings, as well as hidden issues and secret agendas.

Ten of Swords

This card, when it makes its unexpected appearance in a reading, gives me goose bumps.  Trouble is afoot when the ten of swords shows up.

The ten of swords can mean anything from unexpected surgery—an actual literal cutting; to being stabbed in the back—figuratively; pinned to the wall; tortured—mentally or physically; devastating despair; unforgivable treachery; or even physical assault.

Pay very close attention to surrounding cards, especially if you are reading for a woman or a child.  This card can reveal a victim of abuse.  I have also had this card reveal that the querent sitting across from me was an assailant, the revelation of which I wisely kept to myself in the moment, and which was later confirmed.

When reversed, it may be speaking of the past or that which is yet to come.  This is also the card most likely to foretell a death.  Again, watch closely the other cards around it, and please—don’t terrify your querent unnecessarily, temper what you reveal.

Above all else, do not verbally predict a death.  The future is not set in stone and higher powers than we are at the helm of this ship called ‘Life’.

Ten of Wands

This is the card of burdens, heavy responsibility and hard work.  When it’s upright, it indicates that these responsibilities are being faced and taken seriously.  It can also mean that these burdens and responsibilities will have to be carried for a while longer.  When this card pops up in a reading, there is going to be a period of intense work that will require supreme effort.  This burden will be shouldered and handled successfully because you have more inner strength than you realize.

The ten of wands speaks to moments in life such as this, letting you know that you will, in the end, triumph over adversity and successfully complete the task at hand.

What I have written above is a pretty basic meaning for this particular card.  But beyond that, it also tells me that you know who/what it is you’re working for, and this is one reason you are applying such supreme effort– you don’t want to let someone down.  It also tells me that you have a goal in mind and you are determined to meet it, if even for your own sense of satisfaction.  This card also tells me that you are being led by something other than sheer instinct and sense of propriety.  You have a Spirit Guide/Goddess/Source that is leading the way for you, enabling you to shoulder more weight than you ever dreamed possible.  If, when all is said and done, you experience the sensation of “How did I ever do this?”…That will be your answer.

Ten of Cups

There are so many cups, so full of promise and happiness for a family or a close group of people.  This is considered one of the most positive cards in the deck, and even when reversed it’s said to override the usual negative connotation of reversals.  However, and there’s always a ‘however’, the figures on this card are standing with their backs to you.  I’ve had several readings when, in conjunction with surrounding cards, the ten of cups revealed secret behavior being perpetrated by people within a familial group.

You can’t hide anything from the tarot, not even when it’s disguised by outward circumstances.  Occasionally, the ten of cups has also revealed over-indulgence.