14. Should I Cut my Hair or Keep it Long?

And is that even a question you can ask?

‘Lady Lilith’, by Dante Gabriel Rosetti, above.

Dear QOC,

Like many Melburnians, circumstances have compelled me to grow my hair out this year. On the one hand, it's nice to have long hair. On the other, it's a reminder that I've spent the last six months in relative isolation, wearing the same pair of filthy jeans and worn-out slippers.

Is long hair or short hair the point?

—Libran

A quick note: when Libran submitted this question, she worried that it might be too frivolous for this column, or too trivial to consult the tarot about. But actually it’s the kind of question I enjoy tackling the most. To my mind, deck of cards is an excellent resource for dealing with seemingly-trivial issues; it allows you to externalise the problem for a while, and gives the question-within-the-question space to float up to the surface, which is an exercise that is rarely wasted.

So in this case: is it better to persevere, acknowledging that things have been a trudge, or give in to the lure of a fresh start…?

I’m personally on about a two-year cycle of haircuts: grow it long, wear it out, get annoyed, cut it off. I’ve been growing it out since the beginning of the year, and it’s now at that annoying length where the temptation to cut is strong. Good hair is on the other side of this temptation; I know this from experience, but still! I think a lot of people are shaving their heads at the moment, annoyed with the tedium of lockdown and taking it out on attempts to refashion the self.

The King of Swords, the first card I drew, is no help here. He is a very Libran figure, brilliantly able to intellectualise any decision but unable to make a choice. The masks on the King’s epaulets point both to past and present; his feet and legs twist one way, his torso and face another. This is ‘balance’ in stasis, the active inertia of being pulled in two directions at once.

Beside him is Strength, who might be the mascot of this pandemic. She’s come up in readings again and again, reminding readers to be patient—yes, still—that growth comes from endurance, and arrives invisibly girded by the three other cardinal virtues, Prudence, Justice, and Temperance. Thus, is it prudent at this juncture to go the big chop? (What maintenance issues might you run into?) Is it fair? (N/A) Can you temper your desire, or does it resist attempts at rationalisation…?

The Five of Swords is drawn with the sword at the centre pointing down; this suggests that you cannot change things through brute force. Here the number five is echoed by the decorative flourishes on the King’s headdress, which perches atop flowing golden locks. Within the numerology of the tarot, five marks a midway point within whatever journey we are on, which suggests to me that any attempt to feel like you’re making a fresh start is going to be thwarted by more of the same.

In the absence of a really compelling desire for change, I think you should probably stay the course. There is a recurring floral emblem within Swords, which appears outside the bound swords of the Five, and contra the drawn sword of the King; growth is inevitable, as is regrowth, and you will probably find the maintenance of a short cut annoying. Save the chop for when lockdown is lifted, and embrace the pre-Raphaelite within.

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