Cardiff Castle of Crossed Destinies

The Sun, The Star, ace of pentangles and five of cups suggest a rich and yet painful beginning. The blessed child set to inherit a land blessed with water who gains a great inheritance early. Next, he sees a youth holding the world in his hands looking out to sea, two of wands. The next card, The Hierophant, confirms his suspicions it is his own tarot reading - an automatic biography. Next, he sees the arch built outside a castle to welcome him as the young Marquess, four of wands, when he came to his majority ten of pentangles. He was welcomed like a king, The Emperor, and showered with praise and hope. His father had transformed Cardiff by building the Bute Dock (the Bute Dock West when the Bute Dock East was built, the construction of which he had already set in train). The third Marquess himself had promised to build a third. He was also embarking on a huge project to rebuild and remodel Cardiff Castle, three of pentangles. But what was to come next? He sees himself standing holding a light into the dark, into the far distant past, The Hermit. Like David Davies he makes generous donations to an University at his power base, although for Bute that is Scotland and the Universities of St Andrews, in Fife, and the University of Glasgow.

But what will become of him? He puts down The Devil, he will certainly try to bind people to him, to control them and of course he will be misunderstood and demonised. The seven, six and three of wands follow next. He see himself fighting his enemies and rivals; people like Batchelor, Wood and Davies. He sees a triumph, of poetry and pageantry, a recreation of a medieval court and finally he looks over a desert. This last card puzzles and troubles him in equal measure. What does this mean? Will his interests in Cardiff come to nothing, or perhaps his own intellectual endeavours will not be valued.

Rider Waite pack