The Schoolgirl wakes among the splayed limbs and curled tentacles.

All the girls lie sleeping around her. Listening, the Schoolgirl realizes that the tentacle monster is also fast asleep.

She sees the tentacle monster wears a chain with a key dangling from it. Moving carefully, so as not to wake the tentacle monster or the sleeping girls, she reaches for the key.

The Story

The Schoolgirl sees the key and immediately realizes its significance. With this key she can seal the Portal and deny the tentacle monsters access to her world.

She sits in the quiet of the night listening to the girls sleep. She has found joy here. She could stay. She could stay like all these other girls have stayed.

If she seals the Portal, does she banish the tentacle monsters from her world, or does she banish herself from the world she now inhabits? If she seals the portal, will the joy she has found be lost to her again? Can she close the door, sealing away the monsters while still hodling on to the sense of joy she has captured here? What can she take back with her once the door closes?

The Meaning

In a reading, The Banishing is a challenging card to interpret. It indicates that we have the ability and power to choose between worlds.

We can remain where we are, keeping what joy we have found at the cost of allowing what monsters may be here to rampage through the other world. Or we can choose the other world, sealing ourselves away from chaos, not knowing how it will affect us.

Which world will we choose? How will that choice affect others? Will we wall away the monsters, and also the things they can teach us? Will we protect our small spot of joy while we allow the monsters to run free? Can we find a way to bring parts of each world together, keeping the good from each without the bad?