February 14, 2012: Hare, from the Druid Animal OracleThere are days when another tool than my Tarot falls out of my Crane Bag, and this is one of those days. Today's draw didn't seem to want to be a tarot card. Instead, we have a card from the Druid Animal Oracle. This card is "Hare", in Gaelic called, "Gearr." The hare represents Rebirth, Intuition, Balance. The image on this card the shows the original hare of Britain- the Arctic hare, which was later replaced by the common brown hare, imported by the Romans from the plains of central Europe. It is nearly dawn but we can still see the moon in the sky. In the background stands a dolmen- symbol of rebirth-and in the foreground we can see a lapwing's nest. with the eggs which were said to have been brought by the hare. Harebell, hare parsley, and hare's foot clover grow close by.
Gearr brings us the benefits of balance and intuition, of promise and fulfilment. The hare is a creature of the Goddess, the moon and the night, and yet it also represents the dawn, brightness and the east. It is the most adept of animals at shape-shifting; we can never be sure exactly where the hare is - in this world or the Otherworld. It represents intuition, which makes things appear suddenly in our consciousness, like the lapwing eggs of Eostre, that magically appear in the hare's form (nest). The hare brings the excitement of rebirth, fertile abundance and willing release as each creative cycle comes to an end.
With the Hare as your ally you will be well able to negotiate times of change, and you will be able to draw on your intuition to guide you through life. As bearers of good fortune, and as animals sacred to the Goddess, hares, or figurines of them, have been found buried in ritual pits. As a grave companion the hare is ideal, for it symbolises the power of the Goddess to bring rebirth and immortality. This power is often represented in the Corn spirit, who embodies the magical ability of the life sustaining crops to die in the autumn only to be reborn in the spring. The pagan underpinnings of Christianity become abundantly obvious at Alban Eiler, the spring equinox. Here the hare is the original "Easter Bunny" - The word Easter being derived from the Saxon Goddess Eostre, to whom the hare was sacred. We look forward, here on the second quarter of the Rowan Moon, and see the old dying away and the new being brought into existence.
February 13, 2012: Ace of Pentacles, Utah Maninni One TarotHere is a card that is a wonderful "omen" for a Monday. Most of us have "draggy Monday" or "Damn! It's Monday" fused into our instincts from years of societal pressure--but the Witch lives outside society, over the Hedge, and doesn't see the weekend as the be-all and end-all and the work week as the "aw-shucks" of existence. This card is a reinforcement of the idea of "let's start all over again and GO FOR IT!" I love the "anything is possible" idea rising out of the well of possibilities--it makes me think of Pollyanna's wonderful statement, "It's a brand new day, with no mistakes in it yet!" This is your Monday-- this is your new day, new chance, on the Earth axis--this is your opportunity to make something wonderful happen in your World. Go for it!! Anything is possible!!
February 12, 2012: The Eight Of Swords, Haindl TarotThis card is simply one of the most difficult cards in any deck, one of the multiples of four that does not mean "building on a foundation". Indeed, this card is more like "repeatedly failing the building inspection." Each of the swords here represents one of the four basic elements, Air/Mind, Fire/Will, Water/Emotion, and Earth/Mundania. The pillar of the tree trunk they are piercing is the representation of spirit, and the visual image is of interference on every front preventing the growth of spirit. So--take a look around and see if you can figure out where you are standing in your own way, and where might be the first place you might be able to make an opening in the barriers...
February 11, 2012: I've had some issues uploading images for a few days, so haven't been being an online TarotWitch (real life tarot witchery was just fine, however--yes, there is life offline). But I finally think I have fixed the "issue" by going back to the old blog interface, so we're back. And since we've missed almost a week, instead of the card-a-day draw that is my usual procedure, we've got an actual full reading today. We missed five days, so here's a Five Elements Spread, with the associated questions and interpretations for each card. (A note about the elemental order here--I am a Traditional Witch so my Compass moves from Air to Fire to Earth to Water to Spirit. If you use the Wiccan/Golden Dawn correspondence system, this draw will still work for you, however, because it is not about directional correspondences but about each individual element--so try not to think of them as being "out of order" but simply consider each card individually)
1. Air/Ideas and Insights: What should I be "seeing" today that I usually don't "see"?
We've drawn the four of stones from the Haindl Tarot, which is the "power of earth". In this deck, "earth" stands for the Planet, the Living Earth. So--there is something in our physical surroundings today that we usually don't notice, that maybe we need to have brought to our attention. Take a look around your house, your yard, your neighborhood, your world...what natural object, phenomenon, occurrence, is there that needs your focus today? This isn't about doing chores in the yard. It is about your "message" from Mother Earth. She's speaking to you. Listen.
2. Fire/Desires and Passions: What do I "want" today, and is this what I should "want", or is my "Will" something else?
We have here the Seven of Wands, again from the Haindl Tarot. Wands are Fire in this deck, so the resonance of the element is squared. And the Seven of Wands, labeled "Courage", is the card we use in this deck to represent the ability to withstand opposition and keep to our designated course and focus...we are courageous enough to stand firm, even if we are standing alone. So--for today, what/who is going to try to make you change your mind about something you Will/Want--and why shouldn't you?
3. Earth/Mundane and Physical Circumstances: What is my "condition" and what should I pay attention to in the realm of the physical (i.e. "real life") today?
This card is the Three Of Cups from Daniel's Bootstrap Tarot. The lovely ladies are a perfect representation of the basic meaning of Three Cups--conviviality, friendship, celebration, exuberance--so--Is there a parTAY in your day today, and if there isn't, should there be? Someone is trying to tell you to sit back and relax with friends, celebrate not cerebrate, have a cuppa--or three. So--let's go do that!
4. Water/Emotions, Change, Flux and Flow: What is changing for me today, and how might I like to respond to that emotionally?
We've drawn the four of Wands, reversed, which gives us an interesting view of "Perfection", especially in the Element of Water. Sounds like we're being told to stop trying to "feel right" or "feel perfect", and simply relax into what we are really feeling. Our emotions have a tendency to be the main place we suppress ourselves, and we're being told today to turn the expectation of perfection on its head, and just feel our feelings, whatever they are.
5. Spirit/The Gods, Inner Light: What is the Universe trying to tell me today?
This one is absolutely perfect in the light of the other four cards. The "Knowledge" here doesn't mean book-learning, nor does it indicate factual knowledge. It exemplifies awareness, being in the loop of whatever it is you're considering, and to use one of my most-utilized magical phrases, "Paying Attention." In the light of the other cards, I would use the concept of "Know Thyself" as my message from the Universe. I've been asked to be aware of Mother Earth, stand up for my own Will, enjoy life with friends, and permit myself to feel how I really do feel--so the Universe sums it all up by saying, "You need to Know who you are, and you need to do that thing, and be that thing...." So---I will. You?
February 6, 2012: Luna *The Moon", Daniel's Bootstrap Tarot
The Moon in the traditional Tarot is of equivocal meaning; sometimes it is about Deception, and sometimes it is about one's own Inner Light, as reflected by you from the Light you see shining in others. Mutability, cyclical movement, water and emotion, they all fall into the realm of the Moon. Today's card gives us another view, the Lady in the Moon, Luna, she of the joyous abandon of constant change (did anyone else ever notice that the phrase "constant change" is an oxymoron?)
Luna is dancing, swinging on her silver crescent, naked to the world, and expressing her freedom and her joy in living. She is not particularly securely balanced on her crescent, but I get the idea she might not care if she fell off--it would simply be another night adventure. And somehow, I see her singing. She's simply giddy with the moment, and she's totally immersed herself in the shower of stars around her.
For us, today, Luna is an icon of being in the Now. Everything changes, all the time. Nothing remains constant. And so every moment of living is unexpected, and nothing is "same old same old", because it never IS. So for us, today, Luna says..."Be absolutely full of your light and shine it far and wide. Be absolutely overjoyed at what today may bring you, because in a minute, it will all be different. Be here NOW, be YOU, right NOW....and LOVE IT!" SO--let's do that. Here's to being a Lunatic...just for today!
February 5, 2012: Four of Stones, Haindl Tarot
This card takes us back to the very roots of life, the World Tree, and the immutable, incomprehensible power of the Earth Itself, the silent force beneath, behind, and beyond every act we perform, every moment of our journey, every facet of our being. Mother/Father Earth is the Ultimate Source, and it is in conjunction with the Powers of Earth that we must learn to live our lives, either in compliance, or in transcendence. Rachel Pollock's explanation of this card includes the following ideas:
"The title of this card takes us back to the archaic idea of nature as a mystical force. We see in the Four of Stones the base of an ancient tree, with roots sinking into darkness. It could be Yggdrasil, the World tree, with its roots in the hidden underworld and its branches in heaven....The card calls us to respect the sources of power in our lives. It symbolizes creativity and new ideas. The person may feel overwhelmed by the energy of a situation. If she or he feels afraid, s/he needs to respect that feeling. The four directions tell us to orient ourselves in the situation, to see how the different parts contribute to the whole, and to find our own place."
We ourselves are individual nexi of power, but all our power is sourced in, and arises from, our connection to the Earth, since we are beings of flesh and bone. So, today, we think deeply about our Source, about life on Earth and our part therein. Where are we planted, and how do we bloom in that place?
February 4, 2012: Mother of Swords, Haindl Tarot
She arches over the earth, a starry night sky filled with mysterious stars, and surrounds the green and beating heart of creation with her ever-deepening silence. She is the shadow, the mystery, that which lies at the furthest edges of the psyche and leads us on into journeys with no destination.
She is Nuit, Goddess of the Night, and perhaps is the oldest iconic Goddess in all the cultures of the earth. Her lore is an attempt to answer the age-old question of mankind, "where does the Sun go in the nighttime?" And so, for us, she is the avatar of that-which-lies-within, and bespeaks the journey to our own dark places...
And why is she a Sword? Perhaps because the truth of darkness is so piercing, perhaps because her legends speak of her lying over the face of Geb, the Earth, the obelisk of his phallus piercing her eternal darkness...and perhaps because, of all the states of Being, for humans darkness has always seemed the most threatening.
So, today, we contemplate Nuit. Where is your darkness? What is there to explore within it? And how does your darkness enhance your light?
