You haven't been active for a while, I hope everything is okay and you're okay<3<3<3 If you become active again, shawn, can you read what happened between sabrina and camila? shawn was dating sabrina at the beginning of the year, shortly after, he started dating camila and now he's back with sabrina the situation is still It's a bit complicated anyways thank you and take care

thank you for your concern!! i'm doing well, just needed some time, but i had a lot of fun figuring out how to do a spread on this situation, because, as you said, it's a bit complicated. so, this is a spread i haven't used before, it's a 'love triangle' spread, with the love triangle bit in quotes because it's not specifically romantic, just used to understand the relationship dynamics in a situation involving three people. (i'll take this moment to highlight that i do try to use spreads that work for any kind of connection between people - platonic, romantic, business, whatever - since often we don't really know, so feel free to request non-romantic relationships too). i had a lot of fun with it and it allows for and encourages a lot of connections to be made between the cards (my favorite!). so, thanks for this request, hope you enjoy!
shawn mendes, camila cabello, sabrina carpenter, 11.2.23
querent: shawn mendes, significator: knight of wands
so, since shawn is the apparent center of this triangle, i chose to read with him as the querent. he's a leo sun (so it's actually in its rulership too), and fire slightly dominates in his chart, so the knight of wands felt like a fitting significator.
how SM sees himself in the situation: VII of pentacles
this spread is heavily based on triangles, and so first we start with a set of three cards representing each of the points of the triangle so to speak, and how they see themselves / their role in the situation. starting with shawn, i pulled the VII of pentacles. so, sevens connect to victory, and specifically this kind of victory through willpower energy of the Chariot (the seventh card of the major arcana), and in pentacles this is expressed as meaningful work, of being able to look back with satisfaction on something accomplished. whatever has been built up has reached a point where it can stand and grow on its own, and has led to growth and benefits for the laborer as well. i've made this point a lot, i'll probably make it again, but while a lot of people read pentacles to be about money, that's an oversimplification of the suit. pentacles is about the material, the worldly - so, yes, money and materialism, but also connection to nature, the home, and physical pleasures and comforts. i actually pulled the Empress later in this reading, and i think that card makes this point really clearly. but just a reminder up front.
so, then, that suggests that shawn feels a sense of accomplishment in the situation, a sense that whatever's been going on he's put work and effort into it and feels like he's grown through the situation and it's in a good place. with pentacles, of course this could be a material situation, like a career, but like i called out above, pentacles are also tied to domesticity and physical pleasures, so this could be work into a relationship as well. it could even be work into himself - often, what's really at the heart of relationship issues or messy situationships is something going on internally, something with ourself we need to work out before we can move forward in a healthy relationship, no matter who it's with.
how CC sees herself in the situation: IX of cups
next we look at how camila sees herself in the situation, and i pulled the IX of cups. so, the nines all connect to the Hermit and signify the compromises we make in life as we move towards achievement. as nines, they also tend to point to cycles approaching a close. here, in cups, we see comfort and abundance, with the richly dressed figure and all of the upright cups arrayed behind him, but this represents the compromise of avoiding real issues and worries by focusing on ordinary pleasures. specifically, after the difficulties of the cups journey, the nine shows satisfaction and indulgence. but the figure on the IX of cups, like all of the nines, is alone (again, emphasizing that connection to the Hermit) and in cups especially true joy and happiness comes from connection with others. we also see that the seated figure has his arms crossed over his chest, blocking off his heart. so - there's a sense of indulgence and enjoyment in this card, particularly after difficulties, but in a way that lacks connection and is a bit more superficial. it's kind of got the vibes of going out and partying after a bad week at work or a breakup - it's not actually touching on the deeper emotional issues, but you're having a good time, forgetting your worries and enjoying yourself.
this suggests that camila is like the figure in the IX of cups - enjoying the shallower pleasures of life, having a good time, experiencing a lot of joy and fun - but the deeper elements are missing - there's no real connection to others, a sense of being blocked off and a bit alone, a suggestion of avoiding deeper issues or worries by instead concentrating on what's happy and fun and light.
how SC sees herself in the situation: X of wands reversed
finally, the last point of the triangle, we look at how sabrina sees herself in the situation. here, i pulled the X of wands reversed. the tens symbolize the end of cycles, and in wands we see the conclusion of the wands problem of action. the figure in the ten is struggling under the weight of all their wands, overburdened. reversed, the burden has grown too much to bear. in relationships, these can often be the burdens in the relationship - indicating someone who takes all the problems on a relationship onto themselves, who's constantly trying to fix everything to keep the relationship going, sometimes even without the other person knowing or realizing. once we get this breaking point shown in the X of wands reversed, the situation can unfold in a few ways, but it will unfold - it's unsustainable. so either the figure collapses under the burdens, or they put them down. but in putting them down, it could be deliberate - an understanding that something has to change - or it could be throwing them down in frustration or anger. and it could be throwing them ahead of you - meaning you haven't actually changed the situation, you'll just pick it right back up again - or behind you - clearing the way to do something different.
so obviously there are a lot of potential threads of interpretation here, but they largely branch from a core that's pretty clear. so - sabrina sees herself as at a breaking point of some kind, with this energy of one kind of cycle coming to an end with the ten. and specifically, she sees herself within this cycle as overburdened, as having taken too much onto herself and she can't keep carrying it. not always, but often, this means in relationships that she's taken problems onto herself, maybe suggesting that she's kept trying to make this happen, to make things work, and taken the burden of solving or avoiding problems onto herself. like i mentioned above, this doesn't mean that it's been deliberate on shawn's part, to put problems onto sabrina - as a recovering people pleaser, i can definitely attest to the fact that sometimes people are actually trying to hide the problems they're solving, even if in reality they would get help if they were more open. and also, sometimes, one person just wants the relationship to work more than the other.
how SM sees CC: III of swords reversed
after that we have two more sets of three, looking at how each point of this triangle sees the others. so, we start with how shawn sees camila, and here i pulled the III of swords reversed. the three of swords is traditionally expressed as sorrow and heartbreak, but it also shows us how to go past that heartbreak, by accepting the pain in our hearts and moving forward. reversed, waite's formula is 'mental alienation, disorder, confusion' - fighting acceptance, unable to heal, we try to avoid feeling the pain of the iii of swords upright and instead we get stuck in it mentally.
especially given the context of shawn and camila's publicly messy and long relationship, i think this card pretty strongly indicates that that one (or both of them) is struggling with moving on from their relationship. the iii of swords suggests true pain and heartbreak, so it's not necessarily a struggle to move on in the sense that there are still feelings there (not saying one way or another, just saying that's not what this card is really indicating) - instead, it's more focused on the pain. even a breakup that you want or that you know is the right choice can hurt, especially when it's been a long relationship, and it's the hurt that the iii of swords indicates. one interpretation would be that in this position the feelings belong to shawn - that he sees her as this source of pain that he's struggling to accept and move past. alternately, in this position it could mean that he sees her as relating to this card, so she would be the one struggling to move past this pain. the ix of cups, while a happier card, can also indicate an avoidance of problems or difficulties in the same way that the iii of swords reversed does, which may strengthen the interpretation that it's camila's feelings we're talking about here. but it's also worth noting the different perspectives - the ix of cups is how camila sees herself - with its emphasis on fun, enjoyment, indulgence after difficulties, even if there is avoidance - and the iii of swords - with its emphasis on pain and sorrow - is how shawn sees camila.
how CC sees SC: The Moon
we look down the next side of the triangle and look at how camila sees sabrina. (honestly, these legs of the triangle were fun, whether or not there's a real love triangle here, i feel like we rarely talk or think about this aspect, how the two people who are connected by the center of the triangle think and feel about each other). here i pulled The Moon. The Moon comes in the major arcana, and is one of the more difficult (imo) cards in the tarot. The Moon represents our unconscious, unmediated by human experience - there is no human figure on this card. so, there is a deep intuition connected to The Moon, but also fears and illusions. The Moon reminds me most of dreams - often connected to these deep truths about our emotions and our intuition about our life, with a lot of potential wisdom, but often shown in these confusing and sometimes scary ways, with a lot of room for misinterpretation and misunderstanding. The Moon often indicates that there's something going on underneath the surface of a situation, that the way things appear may just be an illusion or misleading, often driven by fear.
so, The Moon is one of those cards that i definitely feel is hard to draw a clear interpretation from without a querent here to speak to it. essentially, this is saying that however camila thinks she feels about sabrina, there's actually something more going on beneath the surface, that there's work to be done figuring out what's actually underlying the surface feelings - but not actually telling us much about the feelings themselves, either the surface ones or the truer, deeper issues. potentially, the moon suggests that these issues are related to some deeper fear or illusion camila holds about the situation, the world, herself. the unconscious represented by the Moon connects to water - which represents the unconscious, deep emotion, and intuition throughout the tarot and in particular in the suit of cups - so one potential interpretation here connects this to the ix of cups, which, as i've discussed, does have this energy of avoiding real problems or worries, of indulgence but closing oneself off, again suggesting that the deeper issues aren't being confronted. but like i said, the Moon basically says, things aren't what they seem, look deeper - so it feels a little silly to then try to say what things seem.
how SC sees SM: The Fool reversed
and, completing the last line of this triangle, we look to see how sabrina feels about shawn. here, i pulled The Fool reversed. The Fool is the first card of the major arcana, associated with the number 0, and is a card of transitions. Upright, the Fool symbolizes beginnings, taking a leap into new beginnings, usually from some deep gut feeling rather than careful planning. Reversed, we see this energy blocked, channeled, distorted, in a number of potential ways. In the first, most simply - a failure to trust your gut, a failure to make that leap - potentially losing out on some chance or opportunity by failing to act, relying too much on planning or practical concerns. Alternately - recklessness, crazy schemes - again, though, out of a failure to trust one's gut, but instead of that uncertainty leading to a fear to act, it leads to a fear of not acting, so you just act, doing whatever feels like action without that link to inner certainty, to deliberate direction and confidence.
so, then, sabrina sees in shawn this disconnect between emotion and action, this failure to trust his gut. like i said above, that could mean that she thinks he's failing to take an opportunity, holding back out of fear, not jumping in - into a new relationship, maybe, or a new kind of phase of one, maybe - or alternatively that he's acting recklessly, acting without a real connection to his gut and certainty. in either case, the appearance of the Fool, the card of transitions and new beginnings, fits particularly well with the X of wands reversed in the position of how sabrina views herself in the situation. she's done with this cycle, with the way things are - she feels overburdened, at the end of things, ready for a change - and she sees shawn as in some way not truly committed to this jump - either he's hesitating and not making the leap, or he's jumping in but she feels like his heart isn't in it.
how CC sees SM: The Empress
now, same points, different angle, starting with how camila sees shawn. in this position, i pulled The Empress. The Empress is the connected to the number 3 and is tied to passion, motherhood (gender neutral, again), nature, material and pleasure - where the High Priestess is most closely connected to water and the cups, the Empress is most closely connected to earth and the pentacles. in readings, The Empress represents a time of passion, of experiencing life through pleasures and emotions. in particular, this emotion is in contrast to logic and rationality, to thought. the Empress as mother is also a good reminder that passion and pleasure and feeling are not necessarily sexual - the fierce passion of a mother's love is similarly irrational, similarly based on pure feeling.
so, a couple of potential interpretations, as always not mutually exclusive. in this position, the interpretation i lean towards is that camila sees shawn as like the Empress - as someone who is directing their life primarily through passions and emotions, not rationality or thoughts. another potential interpretation would be that she views shawn as connected to a period of time characterized by passion and pleasure, emotion above rationality. this could potentially be connected to the ix of cups, hitting again those themes of a time of pleasure and indulgence - though there, we have the sense of avoiding problems, of the shallowness of the fun and pleasures, suggesting potentially a point of difference in how she sees them both, that she sees an avoidance of issues in herself that isn't there in him.
how SM sees SC: VI of swords reversed
moving along the triangle to how shawn sees sabrina, i pulled the VI of swords reversed. the sixes all represent communication and rebalancing, transition, connected to the Lovers. in swords, upright we see a quiet journey through a difficult time - the silent figures with their heads down as the boatman ferries them across waters. though they carry this sense of sorrow and difficulty in the swords, the figures have adapted, and it primarily means quietly functioning in a difficult time, or simply a quiet transition. definitely a strong energy of not rocking the boat. reversed, this quiet functioning is disturbed, disrupted. this disruption isn't necessarily a bad thing, though - the upright vi of swords has this energy of a difficult situation that you learn to function in, but sometimes you do need to rock the boat in order to make a situation better. so there's this element of disturbing some long-established situation or circumstances to try to change and make them better, with an emphasis on communication (very present here from both the six and the swords) as one of the potential means for changing the circumstances.
again, a couple of potential interrelated interpretations here, based on this positioning. so, in the position of how shawn sees sabrina, one way of looking at this is that shawn sees sabrina as this disruptive figure, this person who is coming into a long-standing, difficult situation and changing it, especially through communicating, coming in and actually talking about what's going on. and, though the variations are slight, this could be that she's disrupting a situation going on with shawn - given that this is a love triangle spread and we have, from their public lives, this sense of a long, messy relationship between shawn and camila, and sabrina as a new figure, potentially a new romantic interest, i think this situation obviously leaps out as a potential interpretation. but it could also be some other situation that she's disrupting, maybe something more internal to shawn or to their relationship, something we wouldn't see publicly - maybe even some understanding shawn has of himself, some set of circumstances he's resigned himself to. it could also be a situation that sabrina is in that she's disrupting - and of course, maybe that resonates with shawn and particularly shapes his perception of her because of his own situations. it's also worth noting that while he sees sabrina as tied to or embodying this disruption, it could be in a more active or a more passive manner - so maybe she's not doing anything to actively disrupt the situation, but her presence is shaking things up. alternately, and again tying into the heavy communication elements, maybe she is actively changing things, likely through communicating.
i do lean towards sabrina as a more active changing force here, because in the cards so far (and more later), there's this really prevalent theme and energy of change, of disruption. the x of wands reversed - the end of a cycle, needing things to change - her seeing shawn as The Fool reversed, with this potential interpretation of someone not making a leap, someone not changing or taking action when it's necessary - and now the VI of swords reversed, shawn seeing her as someone who is disrupting this long-standing situation. there's a sense in the vi of swords (recall, from shawn's perspective) that this disuption is a good thing, but change is difficult and throughout these cards you can sense a kind of difficulty from shawn and an impatience from sabrina.
how SC sees CC: Death
and next, how sabrina sees camila. here i pulled Death, number 13 in the major arcana. i've discussed Death at least once before (a while ago, in my taylor and joe reading), but while to most people it's one of the scarier cards to draw, i actually love the Death card. this card signifies a time of change, and in particularly the moment when we psychologically accept the the need for the end (or the death) of what has been, the past, whatever it is that needs to change, so that something new can emerge. with this awareness of the need for change, we also get the emotions that can come with that - in the best aspects, acceptance, the ability for something new to grow, and in the worst aspects, fear.
i think there's a potentially quite obvious interpretation here, which i'll just be blunt about - it is speculation, but if there is a love triangle aspect to what's going on here, then i think it's pretty reasonable for sabrina to see camila as embodying this energy of a time for things to change, for things to end, so that something new can begin and all of those feelings, so - that's a pretty obvious story you can tell from the energy in this card (as well as the other cards, particularly sabrina's). but that's just one interpretation - it could be that maybe camila has actually come to this understanding, that it's time to change, and sabrina sees that in her. i don't get that kind of vibe from camila's other cards, but it's possible. it could also speak to something about or to do with camila representing change more broadly for sabrina, as almost representative of the change in her own life.
relationship bw SM & CC: VIII of wands reversed
finally, a card for the relationship between each, starting with between shawn and camila. here, i pulled the viii of wands reversed. eights all relate to movement and Strength, and in wands we see a journey coming to an end, completed, the wands landing. in romantic situations, they're sometimes called the 'arrows of love', suggesting action taken in a love affair, or some next step completed. reversed, however, the end doesn't come, even when it's desired. a situation just seems to go on and on, without any conclusion in sight - sometimes that's because it just can't be avoided, but more often, especially with emotional situations, we expect things to remain unresolved and so keep them that way. if the narrative in my head is that i'll never get over my ex, then i'll never do the necessary moving on to actually get over my ex. and so yes - in love, the arrows hurt - they can mean jealousy, argument, conflict, but especially uncertainty and confusion. the arrows are stuck, as is the person.
so, i think this card is both fairly straightforward to interpret in this position and also very much in line with the other cards, which just strengthens that interpretation. there's a lot of confusion and uncertainty in the relationship between shawn and camila, a sense of conflict and discord, and this energy of a situation that keeps going on and on, that won't end even when the parties want it to, a kind of stuck energy. this really echoes the III of swords reversed that we saw in how shawn sees camila, suggesting that maybe she's the more 'stuck' one - but it takes two to tango, and The Fool reversed, how sabrina sees shawn, also is very in line with this energy, suggesting that maybe he's contributing more to the situation than he realizes. sabrina seems the most aware of this need to bring things to an end or the need to act / change more generally. it's seen in practically all of the cards relating to her - the X of wands reversed, the Fool reversed, Death.
relationship bw CC & SC: Justice reversed
next, the relationship between camila and sabrina. here, i pulled Justice reversed. so, Justice is the eleventh card of the major arcana. it has the straightforward meanings of honesty, fairness, justice, but on a deeper level refers to karmic justice - the sense that our actions contributed to the way things are working out, that we get what we deserve, being honest with ourselves. reversed, then, we see injustice or unfairness, but also a failure to see that karmic justice, a dishonesty with ourselves, missing an opportunity for a greater understanding of ourselves and our lives.
again, i think this card makes a lot of sense in this position and with the other cards around it. on the surface, there's a sense of unfairness in their relationship - they might feel that the situation they're in is unfair, think that one or both is acting dishonestly or unfairly. but there's also, on a deeper level, a sense of missing their own role in things, a sense of maybe believing the situation or the other person is unfair and missing their own role in things that sense of needing to look deeper is also seen in The Moon, suggesting that camila may be the one whose understanding is more clouded. that might reinforce the interpretation above, where camila is the more 'stuck' between her and shawn, too.
relationship bw SC & SM: queen of swords reversed
finally, the relationship between shawn and sabrina, and i pulled the queen of swords reversed. upright, the queen represents the understanding that comes through experience. particularly from the suit of swords, there's an emphasis on the experience as some kind of pain or sorrow, and then the wisdom gained through sorrow - her sword points straight upright for true clarity, rather than tilting towards action as does the king's. reversed, the weight of the card shifts from the wisdom to the sorrow and pain. this queen either dwells too much in sorrow and so fails to learn the lessons the upright figure represents, or has turned mean in response to these external pressures and pains - like i've said before about the swords, they're double-edged - like words, like the truth, it's all about how you use it, and the queen of swords reversed can use hers to hurt, possibly forcing her ideas on others.
so, as with all the court cards, there's a potential for this to represent an external influence - the negative influence of some figure represented by the queen of swords on the relationship. in a love triangle situation, that influence could very well belong to the third person in the situation - in this case, camila. there are some connections between the cards that could strengthen this interpretation - the iii of swords reversed, for example, speaks to the same kind of failure to accept pain and sorrow and move past it, and the card right above this, Justice reversed, echoes the imagery of figure holding the sword of truth reversed - again, tying in this sense of unfairness, of feeling like your pain is because of other people and failing to see the truth of your own role in it. so, that's one interpretation, where camila is this external influence dominating the relationship between shawn and sabrina, but i do think this is just one interpretation, though it's the one i find strongest. the other main line of interpretation i see is that the queen of swords reversed figure represents one of the figures in the relationship. of the two, i find sabrina the more likely interpretation, in part because of the relation to Justice reversed like i pointed out above, which represented the relationship between sabrina and camila - suggesting more that perhaps under the pressure of the situation, the pain she's feeling - recall the burden of the X of wands reversed - she's grown bitter, lashing out, failing to see her own role and thinking of things as unfair, again tying to that Justice reversed. and, as always, these aren't mutually exclusive interpretations - both parties could be lashing out in this way, but the relationship that is primarily impacted is the one between shawn and sabrina.
overall direction: IX of pentacles
finally, we look at an overall direction for the situation, and here i pulled the ix of pentacles. as with all the 9s, we see the compromises and sacrifices made in the suit. in pentacles, we see both success - not only or even principally materially success, but more a sense of success in creating the life that we want, understanding what's really important to us and having achieved it. there's a deep sense of self-awareness to this card. but as with all the nines, there's a sense of solitude and especially of discipline, as one of those compromises necessary for the success we see.
zooming out, as this position calls us to do, suggests that while this all looks and feels messy, it's moving towards this place of self-awareness, of disciplined success, of figuring out what really matters. i think this speaks to the situation overall, but i think it ties more strongly to camila and shawn - suggesting a transmutation of the ix of cups, but also connected to the Empress (who closely resembles the figure on the ix of pentacles) - which represented how camila saw shawn, and may suggest bringing a discipline and an understanding to that passion, something we may have already seen in shawn in the vii of pentacles. i do think that this energy doesn't resonate as strongly with sabrina, suggesting that her role may have been more of a catalyst in bringing about this understanding - similar to the energy we see in the vi of swords reversed, reinforced by the prevalence of ending/conclusion energy in her cards that isn't present in the others. sometimes people aren't moving in the same cycles, or at the same pace. and i think it's worth pointing out that ending on this card really feels to me like ultimately, these three's paths are separating - that what they're looking for isn't going to found with any of the others. the ix of pentacles, especially in a romantic situation, really has that energy of like, taking time for yourself and focusing energy on yourself and what's important to you, outside of a relationship. and i do think that this jibes with what i've seen in terms of recent news about these three.
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