Four-Fer...

Well, life caught up with me. Tarot draws done every day, and not enough time on the computer to put them on the blog. So, here we go, Friday the 13th as ever was...we'll do a four-fer-all, here, which oddly enough rhymes both with farfaral and folderol...look 'em up (first one's archaic from the Middle Ages so good luck), and you'll find they both fit...
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January 10, 2012: Ace Of Rods (Tarot of the Old Path) Love, love, love all the "new beginnings, springtime" imagery here...bright, rising Sun, brand-new butterfly, blooming Rowan staff, all bespeaking new beginnings, fresh starts, and all that wonderful "It's the New Year" stuff that we crave, especially in the dark of winter when everything is dead, cold, or worn out. So--let's get on it, let's begin it...but let's also look at WHERE this amazing new beginning is taking place...yep, Stonehenge as ever was. Maybe the oldest known site for those who cherish old ways, as well as an avatar of mystery (where DID it come from, and who set it up, really?) So--yes, new beginnings, but please remember you can't cancel your past. Whether you are building on solid foundations of long experience, whether you are trying to remember not to make the same mistakes, or whether you are going to try a new take on an old set of problems, in any case you still need to recall that there isn't any part of your past experience that you can simply refuse to acknowledge. You get to transmute it, you get to decide how you'll use it, you can wrap it up in a blanket and put it on the back shelf of your "closet" if you need to. But in your new beginning, please remember that it has shaped and formed you to this very minute. So...new beginnings, fresh start, built strong and steady on old roots. Works.
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January 11, 2012: Nine of Stones, Haindl Tarot

The Nine of Stones is a lovely layering of images...the Nine Stones, set on a USA western desert background in the shape of the Kabalistic Tree of Life with an I Ching hexagram centering the top row...lovely reiteration of unity in diversity here. And this card is a lovely beginning to the year, as well, because it bespeaks financial security, having all one's ducks (or stones!) in a row (or several!) and reiterates the notion of cosmic balance and the union of opposites to produce beneficial results. I notice here that the central stone, at the bottom, looks more fully "rounded" than do the others, and several ideas come to mind here--one is that the central stone is at the bottom, and that humility rather than arrogance is a more likely tool with which to produce gain, either material or of other kinds. The other idea was the concept of diverse kinds of "material gain", not just money. Stones aren't coins or pentacles, the more traditional objects typifying "earth" in the Tarot. No, stones are bedrock, foundation, they are natural objects, and they don't look at all pretentious, nor do they need an explanation as does an arcane symbol like a pent. Nope, stones just ARE--and "material gain" can mean a better world, more care for Nature, more food for everyone, fewer poor and homeless--I don't think this card's message, for your Tarot Witch, is just about money. It is about bringing "gain" of all kinds to our material world, so we can all live better. I like this.
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January 12, 2012: Three of Coins, Utah Maninni Tarot ONE

This card was created, in 2005, by Borilar Elrond, who was a member of the Utah Pagan Community at that time (and still is, under another name.) It portrays the lightning of the West Desert shimmering behind the triangle of balance, and the copper coins which mark the corners are joined by three distinctive stone faces...the imagery here is Kabbalistic and also refers to Mormon legend and history, and it all bespeaks "balance in the face of disruption." Here we have a structure being assailed by the forces of Nature, and serenely withstanding the onslaught. So the three of coins reminds us that not everything in our lives will come to us smoothly and in an orderly fashion, but we are charged with maintaining our balance when circumstances become unbalanced, and giving ourselves the foundation we will need in order to maintain our structure in the face of difficulties. There's a reason the coins here are pennies...not only is copper a Utah product, but the penny is America's smallest denomination of currency. To remain stable in the face of difficulties, start small, begin at the beginning, and build on that.
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January 13, 2012: Temptation, Tarot of the Old Path

I will be using this deck in a Tarot Circle this evening at Stealth Coffee, so I chose it for today's daily draw--and I am giggling with delight here. It's Friday the 13th, and I draw, "De Debbil" (this card is the Devil in the traditional Tarot). What could be more perfect? The Devil is about all those things you shouldn't do, but do do...all those times you fall to your bad self and don't live up to your own, or others', expectations...and on a day which has centuries of "bad ju-ju" what could be more telling than to draw the "avatar of evil"...and prove that it is, in fact, no such thing! The "Devil", or "Temptation", either one, has a side we seldom consider--the concept of choice. The Devil, or Temptation, either one, is not likely to get you in a head-lock or trip you to fall headlong on your way to the bus. Temptation, the 'wrong way', the 'I-know-I-shouldn't' thing--they seduce us, they tempt us, they suggest, but they don't waylay us. We have to CHOOSE. We have to decide whether, this time, we will take the left-hand path and do something we know might be dangerous, wrong for us, against our ethics, forbidden by law or shibboleth, or just stupid. And drawing this card on this day reminds me of an old adage, "things are not always what they seem". The Devil is the purveyor of fear. "Don't go there, it's dangerous"...and do we really know that for ourselves? IS the number 13 bad luck, or is it a lovely avatar of the mystical? If the "left-hand path" is so evil, why do so many Traditional Witches (including yours truly) follow it by preference? IS it dangerous to become a Witch, or is it perhaps a Gift of the Blood? Is it "wrong" to leave one's religion of birth and walk one's singular path, or is it perhaps necessary? All I want to say in interpreting this card for you today is--one man's Devil is another man's Horned God. Do your own deciding. Look, research, make up your own mind, CHOOSE FOR YOURSELF. That is thinking like a Witch, and that is the Way of Wyrd. Go, pay attention. Live your life. The Devil you don't know may be more dangerous to you than the Devil you do.