Friday, October 24, 2014

Four-Card Friday--It's Elementary, Watson....


Today we're looking at elemental energies, those four basic parameters that source our behaviours and affect every situation we experience. So, four cards, one for each of the "elementary elements" that influence our opinions and behaviour...

Air: Inspiration (or breathing)...What do I need to KNOW here? We get the Page of Swords from the Tarot of the Old Path, and he stands carefully balanced, sword at the ready, protecting the harvest of mushrooms he has just gathered...Mushrooms represent awareness of hidden truth, due to their shamanic and mind-altering nature in early societies, so this Page seems to be guarding the knowledge he knows he is acquiring, his personal gnosis, from being interfered with or stolen by a perceived enemy...So, what you need to know about your situation is that your Truth is YOURS whether or not it agrees with what others think, and you need to guard your mind from being corrupted by outside influences...



Fire: Will, Passion: What Must I DO with this knowledge? The Queen of Swords stands guarding her armload of lavender. She holds her sword, not in a defensive position, but upright like a ceremonial blade, and the haughty but calm expression on her face seems to indicate that her power and self-possession are such that she knows she will not need to use the sword--for those who may approach her, simply seeing it will be enough. She holds eight stems of lavender in her hand--lavender, the aegis of healing, inner tranquillity, and personal focus, and eight stems, representing four doubled, building on a stable and secure foundation. The card is saying, "You know what you must do. Your Will and Desire are balanced with healing and protective energy, so you needn't be aggressive with your Will. Simply focus on your desired Intent, and do, calmly and peacefully, what you know you are supposed to do. It will be all right."

Water, Intuition, Emotion: How do my feelings guide the situation?: Of course, you have an emotional investment in any action you propose to yourself, and you always know how you feel about your proposed course or direction...or do you? Here sits an elderly man, sadly contemplating the three spilt cauldrons in his lap, not noticing that there is a fourth one, brimming over, sitting safely on the table...And there is his son, behind him, either raising a fifth cauldron in excitement and celebration, or preparing to mischievously dump it over Daddy's head....and therein lies our lesson. We do, all of us, have more of a tendency to focus on our perceived failures and become emotional about what we have not accomplished, than we do to simply rejoice in, celebrate, and use (or even have fun with!) that which we have accomplished. So, the card says to us..."Count your blessings, feel GOOD about your success even though it may have been preceded by failure. Don't "should on yourself" and don't focus on the negative. Notice what you have achieved, and center on that."

Earth: Manifestation, Health, Prosperity: What will come of this situation? The Queen of Cauldrons sits serenely in her blue robe (the color of peace and tranquillity) with her purple cloak about her shoulders (the color of spiritual evolution). In her hands she holds that filled cauldron from the last card, still overflowing with potential, and a peach, the symbol of arcane wisdom. She is contemplating her realm with serenity and a quiet joy on her face. It looks as if the realm is at peace, abundance and wisdom are to be partaken of, and she is calm and at rest. Looks as if things are going to turn out just fine. Go do it!

FFF & F,

Aisling, the TarotWitch