My two cockatiels couldn’t be more different from one another. Ciuffy, the white one, is a sweet cuddlebug who’ll do anything for a head scratch. He’s never nipped me, let alone bitten me. The only time he hurts me a little is when he tries to preen my ear.

Zazu, the gray one, is a beaky, bossy, overbearing prick. He does have his sweet side, and considering I’ve had him for only a little over a month we’ve made huge progress, but when I have him on my shoulder I KNOW I’m going to get hurt at some point, and when he bites he really means it.

Now that I’ve set the scene and used the excuse to show you a couple of pics of my cutie pies, let’s get to the point. A couple of days ago, while Zazu was on my shoulder, he bit my earlobe incredibly hard out of nowhere (maybe he saw me move my head and didn’t like it).

I shooed him away with my hand, but he spooked and flew against a wall. Although he wasn’t hurt, he spent the day avoiding me and hissing (for those who don’t know, cockatiels can hiss, like cats).

I knew that the accident set some of that hard-won progress back, but I wanted to know Zazu’s perspective and how it would likely evolve. Here’s what the Bolognese Tarot had to say:

One thing that surprised me is the first row, where we have happiness (Ten of Cups) in the house (Ace of Cups) with me (King of Wands). I know I try to care for the two little balls of feathers as best I can, but Zazu is always grumpy and old-farty in his behavior, so I assumed he didn’t like me very much. Apparently that’s just his character.

The second row is interesting, since we have unexpected (Stranger) betrayal (Hanged Man) leading to negative emotions (Eight of Swords). Clearly his good vibes were somewhat disrupted by the incident.

The third has a path (Eight of Wands) toward Love with harmony or small satisfactions (Ten of Coins). So even though there was a setback, there is room for moving toward love. Obviously we should be very careful when projecting human sentimentalism onto animals, but then again, divination is a language understandable to humans, so the tarot is probably translating Zazu’s reality in terms that are understandable to me.

I have some doubts about the last line. The King of Swords might be Zazu himself (it could represent my husband, but my husband isn’t particularly involved). Technically, pets are represented by the Juggler, but then again, the King of Swords does have some characteristics of the Juggler, so it’s a possibility. At any rate, the King is next to the sickbed. There are no combinations talking explicitly about sickness, so I believe this just shows his being cranky or a bit uncertain, but the World card at the end of the row indicates that this uncertainty doesn’t cause breaks: the situation remains open and moving.

The Temperance card at the end simply shows that patience and time are needed. I expected no less.

For now, the reading seems to be accurate. The day after the little bastard had gone back to his old behavior, being just a little more shy than usual, and the day following that he was back to normal.

MQS