The moon is a sickle to cut . . .

This is my third attempt to "read" a Tarot card by sleeping with it under my pillow. The paucity of dream content this time around makes it particularly challenging. All I could remember upon awaking was a single incomplete sentence: "The moon is a sickle to cut . . ." -- to cut what? I know that the verb had an object, but it vanished from my memory almost instantaneously, so all I've got to work with is those seven words. I think my chance of success is low, but it would hardly be in the scientific spirit to publish only my "successful" experiments.

I have not yet checked the card and will not do so until later today, after this post has been published. Here are my ranked guesses. If nothing but random chance is at work here, my probability of getting it right on my first guess is 1.28%; in two guesses, 2.56%; in three, 3.85%; in four, 5.13%.

1. The High Priestess: This card shows a crescent moon which is clearly not a partially illuminated spheroid but rather a sickle-shaped object. The cross on the priestess's breast, with a waxing crescent below it, suggests the astrological symbol for Saturn, which represents a sickle. My reason for ranking this first is that when I thought of it I got a little déjà vu feeling, as if something on the card corresponded to already-forgotten imagery from my dream.

2. Two of Swords: Going by logic alone, this would have been my first choice. It's a sickle-shaped moon combined with the "cutting" imagery of swords. We could even see "to cut" as a pun for "two cut," meaning two swords. (On the other hand, the High Priestess card actually includes the string "TO.") The blindfold imagery also seems an appropriate commentary on the experiment itself, which I have dubbed "reading with my eyes shut."

3. Eight of Cups: Another sickle moon, with a round object placed against what would be the blade of the sickle. This is thus the only card to show a sickle moon cutting some particular object. It's also a card which means something to me personally, which would put it in the same category as Temperance and the Six of Cups.

4. The Moon: Since part of the dream content was the exact phrase "the moon," we can't exactly neglect this possibility.

Stay tuned for the results.

Update (2:00 p.m.): I was just about to go upstairs and check the card when I caught myself thinking, "Now we'll see if any of my guesses was right, or if it's just something unrelated like the Emperor or the Five of Wands." I don't know why those two cards in particular came to mind, but I want to log them here just in case.

Update (2:04 p.m.): And it's the Five of Cups. Total miss.