What I really enjoy about using modern Tarot decks is that often a new perspective can be seen from the traditional meaning of the card, or I learn something new. This week, I drew the Two of Cups from the Animal Totem Tarot and I found out about the fascinating symbiosis between hermit crabs and sea anemones.
This card depicts a hermit crab on the seabed, surrounded by coral. Behind the hermit crab are two cups laying on their side, on top of one of the cups is an anemone. Anemone’s often attach themselves to the shells of hermit crabs, but do no harm to the hermit crab. The anemone and hermit crab are travelling buddies, with the hermit crab carrying the anemone as it moves along. The anemone protects the hermit crab from predators as it’s tentacles will sting. If the hermit crab needs to move to a larger shell, it will gently detach the anemone from the old shell and place it on the new shell.
Relationships, including platonic, business, or romantic, cannot be just a one-way street. Each person in the relationship needs to find benefit. If it is one sided, it is doomed to stagnate or fail. If both parties in the relationship are working together, and find symbiosis, it is more likely to be successful.
This week, evaluate your relationships. Are they mutually beneficial? Have you been neglecting an important partnership and need to nurture it more? Are any too draining and it is time to let go? What is your ideal relationship?
Message from the Hermit Crab:
If ever there was an odd couple it would be us. We don’t seem to look like we belong together, but you will find us together on many a coral reef or aquarium. In fact, we could not think of anywhere else we would rather be than right here with each other, deep under the sea. Friends till the end.