One Person, One Question, One Reading

Lady Saber,

You asked: My question is this: I will be very busy with work this month and I will need staff to help. Who do I ask for help? Do I pay my former staff? She is willing but is also busy with part time school. Ask my boyfriend (he has offered since I've been paying his share of the rent, he's willing to work to a certain extent gratis)?

The pros of using your former staff: King of Swords,Tower (clarified by 7 of pentacles).

I feel like this staff member is very adept at the work you would need her to do, and she would likely get it done more quickly than he would, leading you to the point where you can begin "harvesting" the financial benefits of her work sooner. I asked if you would be happy with the work she does, and I get 5 of swords. I think there will be a sense of accomplishment here. There may be some level of unspoken competitiveness between the two of you, but she will accomplish what you need to have accomplished. I asked how she feels about working for you and got the 3 of wands. She sees working for you as a stepping stone toward future positions, and therefore is likely to do her best for you in order to further her own career.

I asked if there would be any cons to having her work for you and pulled the Star and Queen of Wands. It seems like the overall interaction between the two of you is pleasant and having her do the work lines up with your personal needs and desires.

I asked what the pros would be to having your boyfriend work for you and got 5 of cups, Chariot, 6 of coins, and 4 of cups. The six of coins seems to highlight how this situation would bring your material contributions into greater balance (since he is not contributing as much toward rent, he would be satisfying that imbalance by doing work for you). However, the Chariot and the other cards point to a myriad of emotional booby traps. The Chariot is associated with the sensitive sign of Cancer who might have trouble dealing with your assertion as a boss figure. The 5 of cups and 4 of cups show a general dissatisfaction, probably from both of you. It seems to me that the sticky emotional nature of such an arrangement would outweigh any of the benefits implied from the 6 of pentacles. So if the balancing of monetary contributions to your relationship is an issue, perhaps there would be a better way of achieving that than by him working for you.

Finally, I asked "Overall which of these would prove the most beneficial?" For the staff member, the card that I pulled was 8 of wands. For your boyfriend, I pulled Queen of Cups. After everything else I've gotten from this reading, these cards seem to indicate that working with the staff member would mean a fast moving work environment where communication is mostly lighthearted and business-oriented. With the staff member, the focus would be on the business itself. However, with your boyfriend the danger is that the focus would become too much on the emotionality of your relationship.

I asked if the business would actually *suffer* if your boyfriend was working for you and got the 9 of swords and 8 of swords. I would caution not to go this route. It does not seem that it would be at all beneficial, and in fact may prove very detrimental.


My question:

I am mostly satisfied with my friendship with my roommate, but sometimes she grates on my nerves. She comes across as a know-it-all and self-righteous. She is not in touch with her own emotions or those of anyone else (including me). When she irritates me, and I become irritable, she continues in her lighthearted Pollyanna behavior, as if nothing is wrong. Even if we have an argument (which has happened twice in the time we've lived together over the last month and a half), 5 minutes later she'll come breezing out of the house as if nothing ever happened, "See you later!" I know that I am cranky and irritable, and I don't want to burden her with my anger when she obviously does not intend to annoy me or hurt my feelings. Still, she *does* annoy me and hurt my feelings. I feel like she is criticizing me or one-upping me in everything I say. I cannot comment on anything without her giving her counterpoint. She always wants to assert her opinion about what the right way to do something is. Everything is so black and white to her, and to me the world is full of the gray inbetween. I am very aware of other peoples' emotions and cannot understand why she doesn't pay better attention to that and respond more appropriately. I don't know how to make this better. I don't have a specific question, but any insight in how to make this less stressful would be helpful.