Tarot is best used as guidance rather than fortune-telling. The cards draw attention to elements in your life that require focus.

The major arcana, cards 0 to 21, represent the major lessons of life in sequence. The minor arcana split into four suits: cups, pentacles, rods (wands), and swords. Each suit represents, respectively, emotions/relationships, physicality and practical matters, action, and intellect.

The reversal of a card flips its meaning, but no card is inherently negative. The position of each card in a spread represents the topic matter in which it is directing you.

New Beginnings

The start of a university year is a new beginning for everyone, and is a time of major personal change. The Tower represents this as a card of radical transformation. The old structures before university are wiped out to make way for a new life.

Your call for change lies in Strength, highlighting a need for restraint. Use your head over your heart, and keeping energy in reserve will help – good advice for an inevitably intense Michaelmas term, both in work and social life.

The Three of Cups shows you will undergo key social developments – take advantage of Cambridge’s nightlife (!) and your new-found friends, but allow yourself rest when you need it.

Essence

Your inner self in the Three of Cups is ready for some fun! Everyone’s up for a party at the start of the new year, so take advantage of Freshers' week. However, the reversed Seven of Swords suggests that your external personality may be in slight overdrive, communicating anxiety and hyperactivity.

While this indicates that you should be aware of others’ needs, also know that you shouldn’t feel pressure to be on the go all the time – new, excited friends may not be giving you the space you need either.

One of the key challenges you face is the reversed Hierophant. Representing unconventionality, this could reflect your confrontation with a new environment. Perhaps you are enjoying your first foray into university life, or adjusting to being a finalist. Regardless, you may take a while before you settle into the new year.

Advice

Your problem is the reversed Ace of Cups – a false start, an unfulfilling relationship, not seeing things as they truly are. This problem has been caused by the Four of Rods – a marriage, peace, harmony. Whilst this may sound counterintuitive, maybe hold off on making a hasty proposal to a potential college spouse – there will be plenty of time if it’s meant to be, so don’t rush!

Fittingly, the Seven of Cups offers you advice for the coming term: don’t fantasise, be grounded. Don’t get so swept up in the fantasy of Cambridge and new university life that you forget to work, or cling to the people you meet in Freshers' Week, even after you figure out they aren’t quite right for you.